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"On March 16, 1970, Newsweek magazine hit newsstands with a cover story on the fledgling feminist movement entitled "Women in Revolt." That same day, 46 Newsweek women, Lynn Povich among them, announced they'd filed an EEOC complaint charging their employer with "systematic discrimination" against them in hiring and promotion. In The Good Girls Revolt, Povich evocatively tells the story of this dramatic turning point through the lives of several participants, showing how personal experiences and cultural shifts led a group of well-mannered, largely apolitical women, raised in the 1940s and 1950s, to stand up for their rights -- and what happened after they did. For many, filing the suit was a radicalizing act that empowered them to "find themselves" and stake a claim. Others lost their way in a landscape of opportunities, pressures, discouragements, and hostilities they weren't prepared to navigate." --Publisher's web site.

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NYPL Staff Pick
Tells about the largely forgotten by history but influential sex discrimination lawsuit at Newsweek in the '70s. Povich carefully frames the Mad Men style culture that was pervasive at Newsweek and other news magazines, and the "click" moment that showed the so-called &... Read More &raquo

NYPL Staff Pick
Tells about the largely forgotten by history but influential sex discrimination lawsuit at Newsweek in the '70s. Povich carefully frames the Mad Men style culture that was pervasive at Newsweek and other news magazines, and the "click" moment that showed the so-called &... Read More &raquo

On April 29 the author recounts her involvement, with forty-six of her female colleagues, in a class action lawsuit against Newsweek for hiring and promotion discrimination on March 16, 1970. She recalls the lead-up and execution of the lawsuit, filed the same day the magazine ran a cover-story ... Read More &raquo

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NYPL Staff Pick
Tells about the largely forgotten by history but influential sex discrimination lawsuit at Newsweek in the '70s. Povich carefully frames the Mad Men style culture that was pervasive at Newsweek and other news magazines, and the "click" moment that showed the so-called "newshens" that they could speak up for their rights.
- Jenny Baum

NYPL Staff Pick
Tells about the largely forgotten by history but influential sex discrimination lawsuit at Newsweek in the '70s. Povich carefully frames the Mad Men style culture that was pervasive at Newsweek and other news magazines, and the "click" moment that showed the so-called "newshens" that they could speak up for their rights.

Tells about the largely forgotten by history but influential sex discrimination lawsuit at Newsweek in the '70s. Povich carefully frames the Mad Men style culture that was pervasive at Newsweek and other news magazines, and the "click" moment that showed the so-called "newshens" that they could speak up for their rights.

The story of the women of Newsweek began in the sixties, but continues into the present. Lynn follows the development of the case from its inception through its public unveiling to subsequent cases and slow change at the newsmagazine. While she was beginning to write this, she was approached by women working at Newsweek in the early twenty-first century, who were still feeling unfairness in the workplace and had just discovered the historic case. This present situation became part of the story included here, and brings in the changes, and gaps that still exist 42 years later. This was a landmark case for women's rights, and one of the interesting elements is the reaction by women both then and now to the term feminism. Among women today, there is a lack of knowledge of the history that partly explains this, but there is also a mindset among many women across time about what feminism is.
A very interesting book, about an important historical change that had long lasting impact on the workplace.